Guidelines for the

Prevention of Mould
Formation in Coffee
FINAL
 Table of Contents

1 PREFACE ........................................................................................................ 3

2 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................... 4

3 DEFINITIONS............................................................................................... 7

4 RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................. 9

4.1 Pre-harvest ................................................................................................ 9

4.2 Harvest..................................................................................................... 10

4.3 Post-harvest Processing ........................................................................ 12

4.3.1 Wet Processing ................................................................................... 13

4.3.2 Dry Processing ................................................................................... 15

4.4 Drying Coffee......................................................................................... 17

4.5 Cherry / Parchment Handling and Local Trading ........................... 20

4.6 International Transportation................................................................ 25

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1 PREFACE
In a commodity like coffee where it is important to retain diversity in flavour and where
sensory quality can create value, any code of practice must respect the differing
traditional production methods. Of course, practices that can be shown to compromise
public health must not be permitted, but beyond this benchmark there are few if any
practices without safe alternatives. However, there are restraints on acceptance of
potential solutions to identified problems such as the limited capital of small farmers,
remoteness from support and marketing institutions, lack of financial incentive for
change and the inertia of habit borne of long tradition.

These guidelines interpret and incorporate scientific findings into practical guidance. The
studies themselves can be found in the supporting documentation. There is no intention
or desire to strictly codify practice into narrow limits, a futile pursuit, in any case, given
the diversity of practice and the essential variety and good quality of the product of these
practices.

These guidelines are not intended for the direct use of every stakeholder, rather they aim
to provide concerned authorities with the basis for developing national guidelines or
codes of practice specifically tuned to their respective sector.

The first objective of these guidelines is to characterise factors associated with each
production step throughout the ‘coffee chain’ that could contribute to the problem of
OTA contamination, explain their relevance in different situations and propose means
for their control. Recommendations, and the contra-indications of poor practice, need to
be specific enough so that the concerned authority or stakeholder can develop his own
solution appropriate to his circumstances.

It is not enough for the advice to be correct and practical, and the intention to apply it
solid. As much thought must be given to how it will be implemented and assured in the
day-to day rush that envelops any production system at the height of the harvest period.
Successful implementation is tied to understanding how to structure and manage an
operation. Providing advice on a safety/quality management system to aid the
implementation forms the second objective of these guidelines.

These guidelines, and national guidelines or codes of practice that should be derived
from them, will form the basis of national programmes for the reduction of OTA
contamination in coffee. Concerned institutions must develop effective programmes of
training to support the implementation of national guidelines. Policy-makers must ensure
that regulatory and other relevant policies are consistent with achieving widespread
stakeholder compliance with the recommended practices.

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2 INTRODUCTION
OTA is a chemical product of the growth of a few specific fungi. It occurs where certain
micro-fungi capable of producing it occur in concert with the conditions they require for
growth and biosynthesis of this chemical for enough time for the product to accumulate.
Fungal contamination along the coffee chain can impart a smell or taste to the product.
However, the specific kinds of fungi involved in these taints are not the same as those
involved in OTA production, so the causes of OTA remain essentially invisible.

Compared to staple crops, coffee has some advantages. Perhaps the most significant is
the limited extent to which it is subject to pest attack in storage. Birds and rodents do not
eat the seeds and only one significant insect, the coffee weevil Araecerus fasciculatus, attacks
the dry product (Hill and Waller, 1988). In fact, the bulk of the carbon in coffee seeds is
in fairly refractile forms such as the poly-mannan carbohydrate storage material, cellulose
and pectin and allied to the high phenolic content of coffee probably restricts the
diversity and rate of fungal spoilage. Importantly, there are no significant current
alternative uses for coffee aside from human consumption as a beverage or flavour in
other processed products.

However, fungal and bacterial spoilage does occur and though the almost universal use
of high-temperature roasting before consumption means that food poisoning bacteria
present a negligible risk to public health nor are the poly-peptide enterotoxins some
produce likely to be sufficiently heat-stable to persist in the roasted product. Toxins
produced by fungi, however, are known to survive roasting and present a potential
hazard. Ochratoxin A (OTA) and to a lesser extent aflatoxin, both produced by species
of the fungus Aspergillus in coffee (M. Nakajima, et. al., 1997; C. P. Levi, 1980; I. Studer-
Rohr, et. al., 1995; H. Tsubouchi et. al., 1984), can occur in raw and roasted coffee beans.

Practices that restrict the development of certain fungi tend also to preserve quality in
both sensory and safety terms. The two specific tools available are, 1) managing water
availability from the beginning of drying onward, and 2) facilitating the development of
competitive micro-organisms and restrictive growth conditions that are not prejudicial to
quality, before this point.

There are predominantly two commercial species and some inter-specific crosses used in
coffee production. Coffea arabica (arabica coffee) requires a wet tropical highlands climate
at altitudes between 600 and 1600m. Coffea canephora (robusta coffee) can be grown at sea
level but it too is often grown in wet tropical highlands. The vigour and disease resistance
of robusta is superior to arabica.

Although the chromosome number of these two species is different, crosses can be
forced, and at least one spontaneous cross is known. Such crosses are primarily used to
back-cross with arabica to improve disease resistance in arabica and most commercial
arabica, outside of Ethiopia, are of this type. However, two inter-specific hybrids,
‘arabusta’ and ‘congusta’ the latter a robusta and Coffea congensis cross, are grown and
marketed to a limited extent.

Robusta’s vigour means that production costs are less than arabica, but its value is also
considerably less. The bulk of robusta coffee is used in soluble coffee production but
there is a small outlet in the speciality coffee market, especially for the wet-processed
product.

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The commercial product is the seed and these are formed, usually, two per each small
cherry-like fruit which are referred to as ‘cherries’. The fruit is borne in either tight
(robusta) or loose (arabica) bunches at the nodes of side branches. Both commercial
species are large bushes and many commercial varieties have been selected for dwarfing
character to simplify harvest which is done primarily by hand.

Processing is conducted on the farm with the overall objective of stabilising the product
(the seeds) by drying to a level where microbial deterioration is prevented. This may
involve prior separation of the product from the fruit tissues. Once dried, the coffee can
be stored and transported and will also be ‘cured’, a series of steps that may include
sizing (grading), sorting, polishing, cleaning and sacking. The commercial value of coffee
is vested in its taste characteristics so the preservation of these qualities is central to
processing methods.

There are two generic systems of coffee processing: wet processing and dry or natural
processing. The dried product of the first is ‘parchment coffee’ which is the seed
enclosed in the inner integument or endocarp and the dried product of the second is the
seed enclosed in the complete dried fruit tissue. Parchment coffee has a higher market
value, but is more expensive to produce, and has different sensory qualities than cherry
coffee. Most robusta coffee is produced as cherry coffee, most arabica coffee is produced
as parchment coffee, but with important regional exceptions. There is a limited market
for washed robusta in the speciality market and arabica cherry is an essential component
of espresso-style blends.

In wet processing, equipment is used to split the seeds out of the fruit, generating a
significant by-product, ‘pulp’, the skin and part of the ‘mucilage’ (mesocarp) of the fruit,
The main product is ‘parchment’ coated thickly with mucilage. The parchment is
traditionally fermented in order to degrade the mucilage so that it can be easily washed
but it can also be removed immediately by machine. After removal of the mucilage, the
parchment is dried, usually by sun drying on cement, brick terrace or tables. There are
many variations and technological innovations to this generic scheme but it is beyond the
scope of this treatment to describe these.

In dry or natural processing, the fruit is laid directly out to dry in the sun with or without
a step to separate floating cherries from sinking ones. Bare soil, cement, brick, bamboo
mat and tarpaulin are all surfaces that are commonly used for sun drying. By this method,
the separation of the fruit tissues from the seeds is accomplished later, in the dry state,
generating a significant by-product: dried fruit tissue or hull. The hulling step is usually
done on-farm or the hull is returned to the farm.

Though sun-drying is the most common drying method for coffee, mechanical drying is
important in some regions, particularly in more capitalised sectors. Even here, sun drying
is normally used for a significant part of the drying period since most mechanical dryers
are designed to handle coffee with an initial water content of 35 - 40% mc (wb) from
initial values of 60% or more.

Although the occurrence of OTA in coffee was reported in the 1970’s, it did not become
a public health concern until a revision of its mode of action was mooted in the 1990’s.
Although not proven, there was evidence published that OTA was a genotoxic
carcinogen, like aflatoxin. The practical significance of this, if true, is that any exposure to
OTA, increases risk of, in the case of OTA, kidney cancer. The accepted guidance for

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genotoxic agents is to reduce their occurrence to a level that is ‘as low as reasonably
achievable (ALARA)’.

OTA is a heat-stable mould metabolite produced by a proportion of isolates of a few

species in the genera of Aspergillus and Penicillium. In coffee, only Aspergillus species in the
ochre and niger sections are involved. The toxin is produced by a growing mycelium
within certain physical restrictions of water activity, nutrition and temperature and these
provide the potential areas of control. Most commercial samples do not contain
detectable OTA with a current detection limit of 0.1 – 0.5 µg/kg (= ppb) depending on
the method in use. Of positive samples, most fall below 5ppb and anything above 20ppb
is considered exceptionally high.

While these guidelines focus on reduction of OTA contamination, which is the primary
food safety issue in the production of green coffee, industry food safety programmes
must also effectively manage other potential hazards in the production, processing and
handling of coffee.

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3 DEFINITIONS
Bóia: Cherry coffee separated by virtue of it being positively buoyant in water applied to
a one-pass stripping harvest system where there is abundant tree-dried cherry.
Cherry (or Coffee cherry): The complete fruit of the coffee tree, can be either fresh or
dry
Conditioning: The storage of dried beans in ventilated bins to achieve an even moisture
content within the bulk of the coffee.
Conditioning bin: Large wire-mesh holding bins usually of 1 x 1 x 3m (or larger) that are
used for conditioning coffee. Modern designs incorporate fan ventilation.
Curing: The final stage of preparing coffee, known as 'curing', usually takes place just
before the coffee is sold for export. Coffee passes through a number of operations that
may include cleaning, polishing, screening, sorting and grading.
Defects: The collective name for common but undesirable particles found in bulk green
coffee. Defects can include various types of beans, or parts of beans, fruit tissue and
foreign matter. Numerous terms are used to describe the various defects that can be
present in both green/raw and roasted coffee beans, and sometimes these are used in
some producing countries and not others. In general, bean defects are caused by faulty
processing, pest damage, or inclement climatic conditions leading to poor fruit
development. Defects are given a weighted value to assist in the classification and
grading of coffee lots under various national and international systems.
Dry processing: Treatment consisting of drying coffee cherries to give husk coffee,
followed by mechanical removal of the dried pericarp to produce green coffee. The
product is called ‘cherry coffee’, ‘unwashed coffee’ or ‘natural coffee’.
Floats coffee: Cherry coffee separated by virtue of it being positively buoyant in water
applied to selectively picked coffee the vast majority of which is ripe or immature.
Gleaning (or Sweeping): Applies to the collection of coffee fruit found lying on the
ground beneath coffee bushes, having either become detached during harvest or abscised
during development. ‘Gleanings’ is the collective term for coffee collected in this
manner.
Green coffee bean: The dried seed of the coffee plant, separated from non-food tissues
of the fruit. Coffee is exported in this form.
Hull: The dried endocarp of the coffee fruit.
Husk: Waste material resulting from the hulling of parchment or dry cherry coffee,
made up of the dried pulp and outer covering of the parchment.
Mbuni (or Buni): Cherry coffee that has been separated from selectively harvested fruit
based on visual criteria such as evidence of CBD or CBB attack or being at a non-ripe
stage of maturity (Note: ‘Bun’ or ‘Buni’ is also the generic name for coffee in Ethiopia, and
is not to be confused with ‘mbuni’).
Mechanical drying: Any of several drying technologies where heat is provided from
combustion of a fuel.
Mechanical washing: Any of the mechanical methods for removing the mucilaginous
mesocarp from the surface of the parchment, taking place after pulping without a
fermentation step.

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Mucilage: Common word to describe the fruit mesocarp, an intermediate layer of

tissues between the epicarp and the endocarp (parchment). It consists mainly of
pectinaceous mucilage and pulp.
Naked beans: Parchment coffee that has been partly or entirely peeled of its parch
during pulping and/or washing.
Natural processing: See ‘Dry processing’.
Parchment (or Parch): Common word to describe the endocarp of the coffee fruit. It
lies between the fleshy part (or pulp) of the cherry and the silver skin. This is the thin,
crumbly paper-like covering that is left on wet-processed coffee beans after pulping and
fermentation. Subsequently removed during hulling.
Parchment coffee (or Pergamino): Wet-processed beans after pulping, dried to about
12% moisture content, but before hulling has removed their hard outer covering (the
endocarp/parchment).
Processing: Steps involving the transformation of harvested coffee fruits to a dry and
stable condition.
Pulp: The fleshy outer layer of the mesocarp, directly beneath and including the skin,
removed with a pulping machine
Pulping: Mechanical treatment used in wet processing to remove the exocarp and as
much of the mesocarp as possible
Wet process (or Wet processing): A method of processing coffee cherries into dried
pergamino/parchment coffee. Treatment consists of mechanical removal of exocarp in
the presence of water, removal of all the mesocarp by fermentation or other methods,
and washing followed by drying to produce parchment coffee which is subsequently
stripped of its parchment to produce green coffee.

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4 RECOMMENDATIONS
4.1 Pre-harvest
There are serious fungal pathogens of coffee but fungi in general, and OTA-producing
fungi in particular, are not responsible for plant disease. Many are or can be involved in
fruit spoilage and several of these can grow and survive in viable, healthy seeds. Micro-
organisms form a natural part of the plant, inside and out, and in the healthy plant there
is a balance between these commensal organisms and the plant itself. There is good
evidence now that infection of the seed by OTA-producing fungi can take place in the
orchard and grow enough to produce OTA by the time of harvest. Further work is
required to better understand the factors that lead to this contamination.

There are two documented infection routes: introduction through the flower producing
no sign of this infection; introduction by casual carriage of spores into the bean on coffee
berry borers (CBB) (Hypothenemus hampei) producing obvious signs, a hole in the cherry
and one or more tunnels in the bean. More mature and dryer fruit and production by-
products (husk and pulp) can contain increased levels of the spores and mycelium of
OTA-producing species.

It is logical that contamination of the bean by growth of superficial mould through the
fruit can occur. The relative importance of this mechanism in bean contamination in the
orchard was not systematically evaluated, but mycological analysis did not demonstrate a
correlation of fruit with bean contamination. If cherries become detached and reside on
the ground, contamination and growth through the fruit is more likely. This process
requires time but in the field, generally, the history of fallen fruit cannot be known. Fruit
becomes detached through inclement weather, higher animals feeding on the fruit,
disease or stress-induced abscission or accidentally through other farm activities such as
weeding or spraying.

These considerations lead us to recommend practices designed to minimise spore load

from OTA-producing fungi in the orchard, to minimise CBB occurrence and to ensure
the vigour of the coffee trees so to minimise development of fungi residing within the
tree and its fruit.

1. Use plant material from manual weeding to improve soil texture and fertility.
Coffee production by-products can also be used but should first be composted
until the material has reached a friable condition, requiring 3-6 months depending
on temperature and moisture conditions. Avoid applying organic material during
or just prior to flowering.

2. Do not use overhead irrigation around the flowering period. This could augment
normal spore dispersal rates and increase the chance of infection of beans by
OTA producers.

3. Clean the orchard of fallen cherries, especially in the off-season, and deploy
alcohol traps for CBB control especially in the run-up to and throughout
harvesting and processing. Programmes of integrated pest management (IPM)
should be promoted.

4. Employ horticultural practices that contribute to vigorous trees: weeding;

pruning; fertilization, pest and disease control; etc. In selecting a pruning system,

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do not neglect its impact on leaf area. This should be high since self-shading and
high photosynthetic potential improves vigour in coffee.

5. Do not dispose of uncomposted coffee waste, household waste, waste from

staple crops that may also be produced on the farm or animal feed in or around
the orchard. Deposition of seed and seed-associated material could encourage
proliferation of OTA producers since many are seed-borne fungi.

4.2 Harvest
The harvesting method is dictated by a combination of the requirements of the
processing method, economic considerations and availability of labour. In general, four
harvesting systems can be identified: 1) multi-pass selective picking (finger picking) where
the picker takes only ripe cherries; 2) multi-pass stripping where whole bearing shoots are
stripped off only if bearing predominantly ripe cherry; 3) single-pass stripping where
everything is stripped off as the workers get through the orchard; 4) mechanical
harvesting where machines, sometimes hand-operated, use vibration to knock the fruit
from the trees.

In addition to these methods of bringing in the main harvest, there are other activities
before and after main harvest, some of which bring in fruit. Often a ‘fly harvest’ collects
prematurely ripened fruit. Weeding and cleaning the orchard floor to expedite the
spreading of mats or the collection of fruit that goes to ground during harvest is
conducted.

Subsequent to the main harvest there is usually a collection (‘gleaning’ or ‘sweeping’) of

fruit missed during main harvest, some of which is still on the trees but mostly on the
ground. This is an important element of Integrated Pest Management for CBB but
traditionally, this coffee joins the human food chain.

Brief contact with the ground is not problematic but becomes so if the contact period
lengthens. According to some experimental findings, in dry conditions fungal development
is not rapid and up to two weeks residence on the ground may not increase
contamination with OTA producers. In wet or humid climates only collection from the
ground on the same day should be considered acceptable. Measures to assure these limits
are not violated must be in place if this coffee is to be used.

Irregular maturation of fruit is a problem for all farmers and processing methods because
the physical properties and potential sensory quality of different maturity classes differ. If
selective harvesting is used, the heterogeneity can be minimised but at the expense of
higher harvesting costs. The timing of the harvest is therefore an issue of importance
particularly with non-selective methods.

There is some indication that OTA can increase in the standing crop as the season passes
and certainly CBB increases through the harvesting season. In early season there is a
disproportionate frequency of immature cherries which have low cup quality, cannot be
pulped and are not readily separated from ripe cherries by automatic means.

The proportion of over-ripe cherries increases as the season progresses and past a certain
stage, they can no longer be pulped. The situation with over-mature and tree-dried
cherries is complex but it appears that tree drying in regions with arid harvesting seasons

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is a safe practice. Tree-drying in other climates is probably less so and, in any case, has
been implicated in certain cup defects such as fermented and rioy taste.

Coffee cherry should be processed without delay. Buffering methods such as retention of
harvested cherry in sacks, holding cherries under water, removal of partly dried coffee
from the drying yard to ‘conditioning bins’ or drying in excessively thick layers, are
sometimes used to replace good planning but these are all problematic. Careful planning
and anticipation is required because readiness to process depends on the completion of
drying, itself usually dependent on weather conditions. The harvesting rate, along with
processing performance and labour availability must be made to match drying rate.

Evidence thus far indicates that keeping fresh cherries temporarily under clean water is
safe but this material rapidly becomes more difficult to pulp and wash. Indications are
that retention in sacks may erratically produce high OTA levels and quality loss. Likewise,
thick coffee layers during drying slow drying rates and consequently permits fungal
growth and development. Tests have shown that little additional drying takes place in
conditioning bins so the period in bins provides additional time in which spoilage can
occur.

The coffee presented to the processing method should be uniform so that mixing
different categories is avoided: wet with dry coffee in dry processing; pulpable with not
pulpable in wet processing; sound fruit with other categories in all processing. The
harvesting result must serve the processing intention and be evaluated by how well it
does so. It is known that coffee seeds can contain OTA at harvest but the detection of
these seeds is not feasible.

1. Removal of brush, fallen cherries and high weeds from the proximity of the trees
is an important prelude to harvest. It improves picking efficiency, protects the
pickers and is necessary to protect the main-crop from contamination by old
fallen cherries that may be included when dropped cherries are retrieved from the
ground.

2. Harvest should commence as soon as there are sufficient ripe cherries for the
harvest to be economically viable.

3. Use picking mats beneath the trees where possible. They protect the main crop
from contamination by old fallen cherries and improve harvesting efficiency.
They are only practicable in flat or gently sloping terrain since the fruit rolls off
the mat on steep slopes.

4. Exercise appropriate selection at the picking stage or before further processing or

both to remove inferior fruit from the main production chain as is suited to the
processing method.

ƒ Where CBD or Phoma commonly attack the fruit, only sorting by hand is
possible. Here sorting is used to remove diseased and immature or over-
mature fruit from the main harvest. Also remove immature fruit.

ƒ Sorting based on buoyancy in water conveniently separates fruits with

one or more diseased seeds, some multi-hole CBB attacked fruits and
tree-dried fruit, all of which float, from a combination of ripe and
immature fruit, which sink. There are indications that the superficial

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microbial load is reduced by brief agitation of cherries in water though it

is questionable whether this reduces the risk of OTA contamination of
the coffee bean.

5. Establish clear routines for processing and handling secondary products that arise
from sorting or separation procedures in your production system.

6. Coffee that had been in contact with the orchard soil for longer than specified
should be collected and destroyed.

7. Assure harvested coffee can be promptly moved through the processing steps
without delay. An important management function is the co-ordination of
harvesting activities with processing activities. In general, coffee is better left on
the tree for a few days than harvested and retained awaiting processing.

4.3 Post-harvest Processing

Maturation and drying of cherries on the tree is quite distinct from drying after harvest.
Coffee fruit, unlike many other fruits, has no capacity for dormancy – rapid change and
senesce follow once the fruit is detached. Based on the available means of controlling
processing, the post harvest period is characterised by two distinct phases joined by a
transitional phase.

In the first or high moisture phase, which begins with harvest, the product is in an
unstable state and spoilage can only be controlled by encouraging competitor micro-
organisms, restricting oxygen and limiting the time in this state.

In the last or low moisture phase, which begins in the later part of drying and extends
through to roasting, the commodity is in a stable condition and control is exerted by
preventing the re-introduction or redistribution of water in the coffee bulk.

During the transition between these two phases, spoilage can only be controlled by time
limitation because there is enough water for the growth of mesophilic and xerophilic
spoilage organisms but not their hydrophilic competitors and aeration is an indispensable
part of drying.

In wet processing the high moisture phase may be extended while being controlled with a
fermentation step, but generally a process should seek to minimise the length of the high
moisture phase.

The transitional phase is the least stable and most difficult to predict. During this period,
certain hydrophilic microbes, known to be harmless, are replaced by mesophilic ones,
some of which are known to be capable of OTA-production. It should be noted,
however, that many of the harmless organisms still have the capacity to produce quality
deterioration. Rapid drying is often not possible where harvest coincides with a rainy
season or high prevailing humidity so measures to optimise drying under these poor
conditions must be taken (see drying).

At some point during drying further growth becomes impossible as the commodity
passes to the low moisture phase heralding the end of processing.

There are many claims relating good general quality to one or another aspect of
processing and that partly determines market value. Usually these are not supported with

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evidence of objective comparison between alternatives and since they strongly influence
practice, this area is in need of systematic review. A rational market needs such
information to reward practices that are demonstrably beneficial either in safety terms or
general quality. Resources or attention expended on non-beneficial activities at best
divert effort from more important issues.

In the past, both fermentation and sun-drying were considered essential for good quality
but this is now disputed as the use of mechanical washers and drying has become more
widespread. Some workers recommend that parchment coffee should be protected from
rapid drying in the mid-day sun at the early stages, but many origins have no such
tradition.

4.3.1 Wet Processing

Wet processing has required uniformly ripe cherries, though new pulping technology has
arisen that tolerates inclusion of immature cherries in the ripe cherry. Wet processing
produces parchment coffee as the main product and cherry coffee as a secondary
product.

This dry processed cherry coffee is derived from out-sorted cherries (floats coffee and
mbuni) removed from the main production chain prior to pulping according to
characteristic defects or incompatibility with the parchment processing technology.
Typically, the low value secondary processing chain is very much neglected and this
should not be the case – it too is destined for the human food chain. Analysis has shown
this product, when neglected, can become highly contaminated with OTA. The out-
sorted cherries are likely to contain a relatively high proportion of defects some of which,
according to data from some surveys of defects, are associated with greater risk of OTA
contamination than sound beans produced in the same batch.

Control of spoilage of parchment is exerted either by using a fermentation to limit

oxygen availability and encourage harmless competitive micro-organisms while degrading
the mucilage to permit washing followed by drying or applying mechanical removal of
the mucilage to permit immediate drying. A recent innovation where the pulped
parchment is immediately dried without mucilage removal (descascado or cereja descascado)
provides a third alternative.

Extensive sampling has failed to show that pulping remnants strongly support the
development of OTA-producers although they do support rapid growth of bacteria and
yeasts the acidic by-products of which could damage the equipment. Adequate cleaning
programmes are necessary to control unnecessary additional sources of contamination
and also to safeguard the equipment. Likewise, recycled pulping water is safe for use for
pulping. The largest reservoir of OTA-producers in wet processing is the coffee fruit,
including the bean, itself.

The inclusion of skins, crushed immature cherries and un-pulped, under-sized cherries in
fermentation and drying of parchment has long been considered to have serious general
quality consequences. At high levels they could pose an OTA risk but the evidence for
them having a significant impact on OTA accumulation, at frequencies of occurrence
that are acceptable in terms of general quality, is weak.

Based on the rapidity with which naked or nipped beans become mouldy, the parch
provides some tangible protection against mould contamination when wet. Although it
does not automatically follow that this contamination would generally lead to OTA

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contamination, it is a clear cautionary point. Nipped and naked beans are much more
common from low water use mechanical washers and unrefined pulpers, so special
attention is required when operating these.

1. Any equipment, no matter how technologically basic, benefits from regular

maintenance. Equipment failure could delay processing and compromise coffee
quality and safety. In addition to regular cleaning and maintenance during harvest
season:

ƒ In decommissioning, all processing equipment should be thoroughly

cleaned and lubricated as appropriate and protected from water, dust and
debris during the off-season. This is also the time to order replacement
parts and conduct repairs. Check pulping surfaces for wear.

ƒ In re-commissioning, clean, reassemble, lubricate where appropriate and

all processing equipment and inspect, installation, fittings and power and
water supplies. Test for operational integrity well before use is required to
provide time to retrench if faults arise.

2. Adopt acceptability criteria for each significant element of the process and
unambiguously assign roles to staff to ensure that they are met. Pulping is a
crucial and central activity in wet processing and you should assure it is being
done as well as possible. There may be training implications for workers. A guide
to these considerations follows:

ƒ Quality of input cherries: What is the maximum acceptable proportion of

immature and over-mature / tree-dried cherries (if a siphon is not used)
for your operation? How is the rate of immature and over-mature
cherries estimated? Who should monitor this and how often? Prescribe
remedial actions to be taken if norms are exceeded.

ƒ Quality of pulping I: What proportion of un-pulped cherries and, on the

other side, nipped beans do you accept in your operation? How and how
often do you monitor the amount of these categories? What corrective
action is justified by the consequences of processing these unintended
classes? Might measures to increase size uniformity of the input be cost
effective? Prescribe remedial actions to be taken if norms are exceeded.

ƒ Quality of pulping II: Are skins being effectively separated? How and
how often is monitoring required? How do you investigate the cause of
poor skin separation - inadequate water supply, outflow blockage, worn
pulping surfaces? Prescribe remedial actions to be taken if norms are
exceeded.

ƒ With such a scheme established, some of the measures may prove to be

ineffective, too stringent or too lax. Recording the various estimates of
the monitoring, as well as the quality and safety of the product could be
used to improve the efficiency of the operation.

3. Although there is no evidence that poor water quality can lead to OTA
contamination, coffee is a food and clean water should be used in processing it. If

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available, bore-hole or spring water should be used. Turbid water has been
reported to ruin coffee sensory quality in wet processing.

4. The shortest fermentation required to loosen the mucilage sufficiently for

washing is the optimal one. Establish how and when the fermentation should be
sampled and assessed. Fermentation may contribute to coffee quality but its
primary purpose is to enable the mucilage to be removed. The fermentation rate
can vary due to variation in inoculum speciation and level (in the in-coming
cherry) and ambient temperature.

5. Monitor the build-up of fruit flies and take measures to control them if their
populations become extreme. In general they carry whatever micro-organisms
that are present in their food but heavy infestations can unbalance fermentations.

6. Have a parallel programme for the processing of the dry-processed secondary

cherry coffee and do not allow it to be controlled `by default’. Maintain separate
facilities for cherry coffee drying and apply good drying practices (see below) to
this product.

7. Establish criteria to judge washing efficiency and a routine to implement this

control measure and whether water usage is well controlled and minimised.

ƒ Amount of non-coffee by-products after washing.

ƒ Amount of broken, nipped and naked beans after washing.

Drying and drying yard management elements are discussed below.

4.3.2 Dry Processing

In dry processing the whole cherry is dried with or without some preceding
selection/separation step. Regional variations include retaining harvested coffee in sacks,
heaps or thick unstirred layers before spreading to dry and the mechanical splitting of the
cherry like pulping but where the parchment and skin is dried as an un-separated mass.

It should be emphasised that to get good results, cherry drying, although simple, requires
the application of good practices and management as much as the more complicated wet
processing method.

On a per kg of green coffee basis, almost twice as much water must be removed on the
drying yard in dry processing than wet processing. At the same time, whole cherries
provide a greater degree of protection for the beans. Splitting cherries is a ‘low-tech’
compromise to reduce drying time without increasing processing costs too much as with
wet processing. If it is poorly executed, physical damage to the bean can increase
opportunity for internal bean mould contamination and associated risk of OTA
contamination and quality loss.

One very important variation on the usual method of presenting ripe cherries to the
processing unit is to allow most of the fruit to dry on the tree. Results indicate that this
method can produce safe and good quality coffee in regions where the harvest season is
reliably arid. Its efficacy is to reduce the cost of harvest allowing one-pass stripping while
minimising the amount of immature beans in the product.

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Field surveys have revealed that it is common practice to hold harvested cherry in sacks
or heaps for 3 to 7 days, especially amongst smallholders. Under these conditions, high
temperatures are experienced and rapid fermentation takes place, different in kind to the
fermentation employed in wet processing.

Direct studies have not produced consistent incontrovertible evidence to condemn this
practice. It is clear, however, that the process is not controlled and alarming outcomes
have sometimes been recorded. On this basis, it is recommended that fresh cherry should
not be held beyond the day of harvest before spreading the cherry for drying.
Furthermore, delays before processing often lead to substantial quality deterioration.

Wet processing operations also produce a certain amount of cherry coffee (see above)
but this must not be compared to main-crop cherry coffee. Generically, this comes from,
1) ‘floats coffee’: where a siphon removes the ripe cherry that floats in water from the
main crop and is combined with hand sortings (immature, over-mature) 2) ‘mbuni’: in
endemic coffee berry disease (CBD) regions a siphon is not usually employed so floating
cherries form a part of the main crop with visibly diseased, immature, and over-mature
cherries dried as cherry.

In some regions, ripe cherry is selectively picked and dried. In most regions, especially
after several years with very low prices, stripping is used in cherry coffee production,
often with floatation separation. If harvesting of tree-dried coffee is common, a
floatation step should be used to ensure that the tree-dried cherries are handled
separately. This avoids their re-wetting on the drying yard due to mixing with fresh
cherries. Even with uniformly ripe cherries, the frequency of defect beans can be reduced
in the main crop by removing floats coffee. Analysis of defects have shown some of
these to be associated with high levels of OTA contamination, therefore reduction of
defect levels may in some cases be an important OTA control measure.

1. The primary equipment for the dry process is the drying equipment: the surfaces
on which the coffee will be dried, mechanical dryers if used, covers and rakes as
well as floatation separation facilities in some cases.

ƒ In decommissioning, all processing equipment should be thoroughly

cleaned and lubricated as appropriate and protected from water, dust and
debris during the off-season. This is also the time to order replacement
parts and conduct repairs.

ƒ In re-commissioning, clean, reassemble, lubricate where appropriate, all

processing equipment and inspect installation, fittings and power supplies
if used. Test for operational integrity well before use is required to
provide time to retrench if faults arise.

2. Triage or floatation should be used to remove diseased or damaged cherry from

the main processing stream.

3. If unselective picking is used, use floatation to separate ripe and immature

cherries from tree-dried cherries

4. Establish measures so that the harvest activities are co-ordinated with drying
facility availability and that it does not become necessary to delay further
processing after arrival of the cherry at the processing unit.

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Drying and drying yard management elements are discussed below.

4.4 Drying Coffee

Strictly speaking, drying coffee is a part of processing but is dealt with separately here
because cherry and parchment drying are more conveniently discussed together. Water
relations in biological systems is a very complicated and important area in controlling the
quality and safety of commodities. A great deal of effort was put into understanding all
aspects of drying, control of drying and measurement of water content and a great deal
of information and data is available in the supporting documentation.

World-wide, most coffee is sun-dried on some type of prepared surface such as tables
covered in wire mesh, bamboo mat or sisal mat, cement or brick terraces, compacted
earth, plastic sheets/tarpaulin or fish farm netting. Mechanical drying is also used after
pre-drying in the sun to a moisture content of about 40%. Solar dryers are rare in the
field, but the parabolicos and Maquesina can be found fairly commonly in some regions.
The value of the former design has been found to be highly dependant on prevailing
weather conditions.

Three regions of a drying time-course (m.c. vs. days) can be identified: an initial lag
period, a period of maximum change and a deceleration phase. Cherry coffee has a lag
period of 1 to 3 days where mc changes little compared to a lag period of 1 day or less in
parchment drying. OTA-producing fungi are at a competitive disadvantage in these
hydrated conditions.

The next phase is linear and its steepness depends primarily on drying conditions and
secondarily on drying yard technology. Cherry and parchment, under identical
conditions, dry at the same maximum rate. OTA-producers are best suited to succeed
during this period.

As the coffee approaches dryness the remaining water is tightly held by the seed and
water loss rates fall producing a period of slow drying. Some fungi can grow well at these
moisture levels but the OTA-producing fungi are not amongst them.

For OTA to be produced, one or more of the fungi capable of producing this toxin must
be able to grow. For this to happen these fungi must experience favourable conditions
for a sufficient period. An essential part of these conditions is water availability: too wet
(above Aw of about 0.95) and fast-growing hydrophilic fungi, including yeasts, will thrive
and repress OTA-producing fungi; too dry (an Aw of less than about 0.80) and the
OTA-producers are incapable of producing the toxin; dryer still (Aw below 0.78-0.76)
and they are incapable of growth. The objective of control on the drying yard is to
minimise the period the coffee spends in the range of water availability where OTA-
producer growth is possible. Experimental results indicate that 5 days or less in this range
is both generally attainable and effective in preventing OTA accumulation.

Rewetting may be more serious than slow drying. If the beans contain a level of
contamination, it may have increased in biomass through the drying period so with more
biomass the mycelium would be poised for rapid growth and OTA production if growth
conditions become suitable.

Recent evidence confirms that the recommended maximum acceptable moisture content
(12 and 13% (wb) for dry parchment and cherry coffee) protects coffee from growth of

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OTA-producers and includes a substantial safety margin. This assertion is based on the
study of the relationship between Aw and moisture content, including over 2,000
samples from many sources, which shows that moisture contents for robusta cherry and
arabica parchment of about 18 and 16%, respectively, correspond to an average Aw of
0.76 which is the minimum requirement for growth of OTA-producers. The data indicate
that, at a confidence level of 99%, this figure becomes approximately 13% for both. It
should be noted that the relationship Aw vs. mc was determined only by desorption a
sorption isotherm might be expected to vary slightly.

This Aw vs m.c. relationship is supported by evidence from storage experiments where

moderate re-hydration has taken place without serious consequences. However, a lot of
coffee with more water in it is inherently less stable than one with less and the
recommended moisture content is not difficult to attain in most producer regions.

Different climates pose different problems for drying and suitability of equipment can
only be assessed in light of prevailing harvest-season climate. This fact also makes
generally applicable recommendations difficult to devise. Many well-replicated studies
show that differences in sun-drying equipment produce very small differences in drying
rates but that drying rates vary enormously depending on how the equipment is used and
the prevailing meteorological conditions at the time of the drying run. Any operation can
benefit from keeping track of what has been done and the consequence. This
information can be used to improve practice or to identify batches that might have
experienced particularly bad drying conditions and might be considered to be at risk.

Mechanical drying is most commonly used as an adjunct to sun-drying, employed at the

end of drying to rapidly generate more space in the yard. In some regions, however, it is
widely used as the primary means of drying. Most of the available types of driers are
controlled with two parameters: duration and inlet temperature. The main concerns with
mechanical drying is excessive inlet temperature generating black beans from immature
beans and over drying causing a loss of value, through weight loss, for the producer.

The objective of drying is to remove water from the seed in the most efficient way in
order to stabilise the commodity and preserve its quality.

1. Site the drying yard to maximise sun and wind. In sun-drying, energy for the
evaporation of water from coffee beans is provided by the sun and is expedited
by air circulation. The drying yard should be located where both are maximally
available, avoid shade and low areas for drying.

2. Use a surface appropriate to the climate and product you are producing.

ƒ In extensive side-by-side tests, different surfaces sometimes showed

differences in drying rate but these are generally small and not consistent.

ƒ Parchment coffee taints more easily so only cleanable and easily drained
surfaces can be used.

ƒ These tests failed to condemn the use of any particular surface but all
have advantages and disadvantages. Soil would not be recommended in
rainy zones and impervious surfaces such as plastic have been observed
to ‘sweat’ below the coffee layer and promote the superficial growth of
moulds. In regions with wet or showery weather, consider the practical

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imperative that the coffee will have to be frequently covered and re-
spread, once the surface has dried.

3. Plan the harvest based on the processing/drying yard capacity and the average
required residence time for drying. Plan in a contingency since poor weather can
occur and increase drying yard residence time.

4. Coffee committed to the drying yard must be carefully managed to make the
most of prevailing conditions, on the one hand, and to avoid adverse possibilities
that could occur in any outdoor process. The principle parameters available to
control this process follow:

ƒ Keep different categories and different day’s harvests separate and use a
system of labelling to prevent confusion.

ƒ Do not dry coffee in thick layers. As a guide, the optimal load for sun
drying is about the same for parchment and cherry drying at 25 to 35
kg/m2 when fresh. This corresponds to 3 or 5 cm layer depth,
respectively.

ƒ Better drying conditions (low humidity, good air circulation and sun
intensity), allow thicker layers: in cloudy damp, still weather the optimum
layer is thinner and coffee should be spread more thinly. Different
regions could apply different norms based on climatic differences

ƒ Once the coffee is somewhat dry, on average one full day for parchment
and three for cherry, heap and cover it at night. When fully wet, there can
be water loss during the night and covering would produce condensation.
This protects the coffee from re-wetting from dew or showers.

ƒ During the day, turn the coffee layer four times per day if possible.
Although it is difficult to demonstrate that raking more than once per day
reduces the drying period, coffee in a static bed has been observed to
become covered in mould.

ƒ Take measures to prevent access of farm animals to the coffee. Coffee is

a foodstuff and should not be exposed to agents commonly found on and
in livestock and even local introduction of water to drying coffee must be
avoided.

ƒ Be aware and regularly monitor CBB populations on the drying yard,

during cherry drying. The concentration of cherries can attract females
from the surrounding area and extra damage to the crop can take place
during drying. Use alcohol traps around the yard to help control them.

ƒ In showery weather, be prepared to protect dry or part dried coffee from

rain. Persistent re-wetting can produce unfit coffee. Cherry coffee that
has been on the yard for less than about three days will be little affected
by some re-wetting but parchment coffee should always be protected.

ƒ Establish a routine, a standard approach for assessment of the dryness of

coffee as it approaches full dryness (<13% or <12% (wb) for cherry and

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parchment, respectively). For guidance, and bearing in mind that over-

drying is also undesirable from the producer’s perspective, a lot should
first be assessed two or three days before it is expected to be dry.
Reassess at least daily, depending on subsequent drying conditions.
Assemble a sample from several positions in the lot accounting for any
shading across a part of the lot.

ƒ Traditional methods, such as biting or shaking, can be effective in this

assessment but stronger measures to ‘verify’ these measures against a
reliable instrument should be undertaken than are usually in place in the
field. It is imperative that if a meter is used, the person using it has been
well trained and that the instrument is calibrated at least annually,
preferably just prior to harvest season.

5. Organise the operations on the drying yard. Make sure the workers are trained in
what they are expected to do. Have a ready reference available of what is
supposed to be done. Clearly delegate responsibilities and make sure that
essential tasks are recorded as completed so in the case of the absence of the
designated person, the task will get covered. Most farms cannot afford to
delegate a team or even a man to solely to oversee drying operations so
communication between the workers should be facilitated to assure the best
application that is possible.

6. Once dry, store the dry product in clean sisal sacks in appropriate storage
conditions (see below). Storage of the dried cherries or the dried parchment
coffee (‘en casca’ or ‘en parch’) is appropriate, especially if it is intended to retain the
product for some time on the farm.

7. After the harvest season, clean and protect the drying surface and equipment as
appropriate. Before drying commences, inspect, repair, clean and commission the
equipment, and the on-farm store or go-down. This includes easily over-looked
items such as baskets, tarpaulins, rakes, barrows, sacks, stitching cord etc. –
develop a checklist.

4.5 Cherry / Parchment Handling and Local Trading

Handling coffee in local trading varies a great deal in different producer countries both
with respect to the chain structure and how the functions are executed. These functions
include various value-added operations such as removal of remaining fruit tissues,
cleaning, sorting, grading (into size classes) re-bagging, sometimes re-drying. It also
includes storage and transport. In general it is in the form of green bean that coffee is
traded.

Throughout this period the coffee must be protected from degradation, re-wetting,
cross-contamination and, indeed should be improved through sorting and cleaning. Sale
and shipment to a roaster ends this stage of the ‘coffee chain’.

In storage, coffee will continue to dry if the air is drier than the coffee (a relative
humidity less than about 60%) but if the air is more humid than the coffee (a relative
humidity of more than about 80%) the coffee will begin to absorb water. Since storage
periods can extend for a considerable length of time, even very slow changes can become
problematic. Routes of re-wetting include moisture migration from damp floors and

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walls, leaks or wind-driven rain, dead air, and blending of dry with wet coffee. These are
all controllable by following good practices in adequate facilities complemented with
routine monitoring so to diagnose and act on a problem before the consequences
emerge.

Moisture content is the principle parameter for predicting storability and an important
part of assessing the current status of a coffee lot. Few farmers have moisture meters,
used to make rapid determinations of moisture content, but they are more common
amongst traders. Meters make an indirect estimate based on the electronic properties of
coffee and are calibrated to one or a few samples of known (typically by the oven drying
method) moisture content.

Their veracity is subject to several limitations aside from sampling, which affects all
methods. Coffee can differ significantly between lots according to physiological and
processing historical differences and these variations cause unexpected errors in the
moisture determination by meters. In addition, the equipment drifts off calibration, could
be maliciously adjusted off calibration and is subject to errors of use due to inadequate
training. The use of these instruments is deceptively simple but it is not a foolproof or
trivial measurement.

Aside from storage certain value-added functions will be conducted but it is impossible
to generalise as to who and when the several functions are executed as coffee moves
from the farm to the exporter because the various sectors differ widely. The coffee must
be de-hulled or de-husked which may be done by the farmer or not, it may change hands
several times, get blended with other coffees, get re-dried, get sorted in any one of several
ways and graded (sorted into size classes) get cleaned polished and weighed into sacks.

Results, based on lower grades of coffee, have indicated that certain defect classes can
contain highly elevated OTA content. This is by no means a universal observation and
further investigation is urgently required to clarify the relationship between types of
defects and OTA contamination. In the meanwhile there is a case for special handling of
defects implicated in OTA risk. Tolerance for such defects in sorted green bean should
be low and the out-sorted defect beans should not be re-blended into clean coffee or
sold to directly to roasters unless direct OTA analysis, with a suitable sampling plan has
shown them to be acceptable on public health grounds.

Between stakeholders there is, of course, a transportation step. Depending on the

conditions of roads and remoteness, coffee may be transported locally from place to
place moving around the highlands on motorbikes, jeeps, lorries or trains or taken
directly to the harbour-based exporters. This last transfer implies a significant climatic
change, which could require additional measures to avoid rewetting of coffee.

All parts of the production chain are, of course, sensitive to market forces. The local
market is the part of the production chain, perhaps most sensitive to changes in demand.
If there is a demand for coffee that has been handled according to hygiene
recommendations, practices will be undertaken to supply it. This means the potential for
influencing practices through regulatory and non-regulatory mechanisms is at its highest,
a fact that should be taken under consideration by concerned authorities. Ensuring that
producers reliably operate in a way that assures the safety of their product should be the
overriding consideration of any intervention.

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Each of the stakeholders can contribute to protection of the coffee as it passes along the
chain by establishing procedures to avoid accepting suspect coffee and avoiding practices
that could contribute to a downstream problem. Once dried, the coffee must be
protected from re-absorbing water, whether through contact with liquid water, blending
with wet lots of coffee, absorption from damp surfaces or air or through redistribution
of water within the lot. Defects associated with high levels of OTA should be reduced to
acceptable levels. Protection from contamination by other materials forms another
imperative.

1. Each operator should establish minimum requirements related to the hygienic

condition of coffee presented for sale as well as a method of rapid assessment,
before purchase, to assure that coffee conforms to established minimum
acceptable criteria.

ƒ To the extent possible, develop a list of approved suppliers who adhere

to recommended hygiene practice.

ƒ Establish a routine for rapid assessment of in-coming coffee to include, a

method of sampling that presents a representative sub-sample of the in-
coming lot for moisture content determination, defect levels, general
physical quality assessment and signs of mouldiness (visual or smell).

ƒ Use a spear to remove coffee from each sack and combine into one sub-
sample. The sampling method must account for the fact that a lot may be
an agglomeration or a blending of different sources so each bag must be
sampled. A spear is the most convenient tool for assembling a
representative sample and the uniformity of the lot should be assessed by
visual impression as this is made.

ƒ If coffee is delivered in bulk, make up the sample by removing small

aliquots regularly during unloading or with a specially adapted long spear
if sampling is to precede unloading.

ƒ Use a well maintained and calibrated moisture meter to estimate moisture

content. Moisture content is a good predictor of storability but not of
past handling.

ƒ Aside from the basic records of purchase and sale where weights and
prices will be recorded, maintain a complete record of the evaluations,
moisture content, location of origin, and any feed-back from downstream
(e.g. reports of cup quality, curing reports, complaints) that you may
become aware of.

ƒ Improve the criteria according to which in-coming coffee is assessed

based on an annual review of the records. Match as much as possible the
receiving assessments with the outcome of more detailed or specific
assessments. Of course, the extent to which this is possible is limited by
the need to pool batches of coffee.

2. The design and structure of the storage facilities play an important role in
maintaining dryness and uniformity of the stored coffee. Storage facilities do not
have to be expensive structures but they must be sound:

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ƒ The best facility has a high ceiling and ample air circulation, cement floor
with a damp-course and is not subject to local flooding, even during
heavy rains. Assure the roof and any windows are sound and prevent
water ingress. If possible, route any water supply around the storage area
so any plumbing problems that might arise do not wet the coffee.

ƒ Stored coffee should not be exposed to direct sunlight or located where

there could be local heating that could lead to temperature differentials
and water migration.

ƒ If coffee is stored in bulk, the best arrangement is purpose-built silos with

elevators. Less expensive but also effective for bulk storage is the slatted
wooden bin (‘tuhla’), which are not part of the outside walls and chocked
up above the floor. A door formed of removable short slats held in rails
allows convenient filling and removal of the coffee.

3. The objective of operating a storage facility is to optimise the organisation of the

facility so that cross contamination and the reintroduction of moisture is
prevented and execution of receiving, sale and value-added operations are
facilitated. The quality of the product has to be preserved until it is sold to the
next stakeholder in the marketing chain.

ƒ Maintain records of receiving so that the initial condition and age of all
stocks is known.

ƒ If sacks are used for storage, do not stack them directly against walls and
arrange them so that air can circulate freely. Use pallets to prevent direct
contact with the floor.

ƒ Cleaning and maintenance programmes should be implemented to ensure

that storage facilities are periodically inspected, cleaned and renewed.

ƒ Facility inspection should include checks for evidence of the coffee

weevil. These insects can only survive in coffee too wet for suitable
storage so an infestation signals the presence of wet coffee. Remedial
measures should include eradication of the insect and correction of high-
moisture problem.

ƒ Many operations, including farms, will need to maintain a separation of

coffee types so they should plan the storage area and labelling system to
accommodate this requirement. Coffee stores, including on-farm storage
areas, should not be used for the storage of non-food materials that
could lead to contamination or taints.

ƒ If appropriate to the period of storage, institute a monthly check of

moisture content measurement of the stocks and take action accordingly.
Possible remedial action in case of unacceptable moisture uptake from
surrounding air could include activation of extractor fans or re-drying.

4. Cleaning and sorting of coffee should not result in physical damage to coffee that
could make it more susceptible to contamination/deterioration, should not

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introduce new contamination and should assure reduction of undesirable

materials to acceptable levels, in accordance with pre-determined criteria.

ƒ Cleaning and maintenance programmes should be implemented to ensure

that the facility and equipment are inspected, maintained and thoroughly
cleaned at regular intervals.

ƒ When cleaning and sorting coffee is combined with storage, consideration

should be given to measures, such as partition walls or extractor fans, to
avoid contamination of post-cured coffee with the curing by-products of
dust and foreign matter.

ƒ Remove defects from main-crop production stream. Such off-grades

should either be discarded or subject to screening before inclusion into to
the human food chain. OTA can occur in coffee of any class, grade or
origin and no certain pattern has emerged relating its occurrence to any
region, practice or circumstance. However, its distribution within the
classes of beans separated from bulk coffee is not uniform and there is
evidence that defect beans and husk (also considered as a defect)
sometimes contain substantially more OTA than the corresponding
sound beans. Likewise, silverskin can contain a disproportionate amount
of OTA compared to the sound bean. National authorities should
provide clear guidance on the basis of further investigations of OTA
contamination of defects.

5. Transport of coffee can be considered as an extension of storage of coffee but

introduces distinct practical challenges in meeting the storage strictures of
avoidance of re-wetting, from whatever source, maintaining uniformity of
temperature and preventing contamination by non-food foreign materials.

ƒ Where appropriate operators should develop a list of approved transport

service-providers who operate in a way that is consistent with good
hygiene practices for transport of coffee.

ƒ Inspect the vehicle for residues from previous loads and holes that could
allow penetration of water or exhaust fumes to the cargo. Pay particular
attention to the floor and around wheel wells since water from the road
surface, even after light rains, could be channelled into the cargo bay by
the wheels.

ƒ Regular maintenance of the vehicle is particularly important since a

breakdown could lead to unexpected exposure in the open.

ƒ The longer the period in transport, the more important is the condition
of the vehicle or container and the requirements of their use.

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4.6 International Transportation

Coffee is only transported from producer to consumer nations in bulk, mostly in
containers holding from 18 to 22 tonnes depending on whether the coffee is loaded in
sacks or as bulk. Even well-dried coffee in these volumes contains a great deal of water
that, as long as it remains evenly distributed, poses no problem. However, temperature
fluctuations can cause condensation and local re-wetting and standing temperature
gradients can cause redistribution of water and lead to fungal outgrowth.

1. Loading and off-loading areas should be covered to protect coffee from rain.

2. Assure that coffee intended for export is dried uniformly and below 12% mc
(wb). Check that the coffee is free of foreign matter and excessive defect beans,
according to classification.

3. Inspect the empty containers for residues from previous loads or moisture.
Check for obvious structural damage that could lead to a further failure during
loading onto ship. Check for evidence of minor structural damage that, never the
less, could allow the entry of water.

4. Load coffee preferentially in bulk in a sealable plastic liner – taking care that the
liner is well away from the roof of the container.

5. If sacks are to be used, stack them so that the stacks cross over for mutual
support and empty vertical columns (chimneys) are not formed. Cover the top
layer of sacks with heavy cardboard to absorb any condensation that might form
despite precautions. Silica gel packages are also sometimes used to absorb
moisture in the air. Their efficacy is unknown and protection against
contamination of the coffee by the silica gel must be assured.

6. Coffee is best shipped in a protected location aboard ship out of direct sun
because direct sun will cause local heating of the container.

Guidelines for the Prevention of Mould Formation in Coffee 25